Choji oil alternative

[WillsZenith]

Hi and hello to everyone at e-bodu, im a noob round these parts so bear with me..

I was wondering about any alternative sword oils , do any one have any tips that would be of any help?


many thanks all

[Tim Mailloux]

Hi and hello to everyone at e-bodu, im a noob round these parts so bear with me..

I was wondering about any alternative sword oils , do any one have any tips that would be of any help?


many thanks all

You can use light mineral oil, pick it up at any CVS.

[pgsmith]

I've never understood why people want an alternative. Choji has been used to good effect for quite a long while, and you can get a two ounce bottle that will last a couple years for $10.

Alternatives do not make any sense to me.

[Kendoguy9]

Most commercial choji oil is actually just a light gun oil or mineral oil with a touch of real choji added for smell. As long as you don't miss that flowery smell when you pull out your sword mineral oil or light gun oil is cheaper and easier to find in the West.

[pgsmith]

Most commercial choji oil is actually just a light gun oil or mineral oil with a touch of real choji added for smell.
I was under the impression that choji oil is a very light mineral oil with a touch of clove oil added. I have never heard that it has ever been anything different. According to everything I've either read or been told, the clove oil was originally added to ensure that it was easily told from cooking oil, since it is a laxative.

[Michael Hodge]

Choji has been used to good effect for quite a long while, and you can get a two ounce bottle that will last a couple years for $10.


Buy a 250ml bottle of light mineral oil at a pharmacy and a choji-sized bottle of clove oil at a health store. Apply one part clove oil to nine parts mineral oil and you have an identical concotion of your pre-mixed stuff that will last you perhaps ten times as long at a fraction of the price.

Michael Hodge

[pgsmith]

Buy a 250ml bottle of light mineral oil at a pharmacy and a choji-sized bottle of clove oil at a health store. Apply one part clove oil to nine parts mineral oil and you have an identical concotion of your pre-mixed stuff that will last you perhaps ten times as long at a fraction of the price.
Had a gentleman in our dojo do just that a few years ago. I don't know why, but the oil just didn't react the same way. The lightest oil he could get was still heavier than the choji I get from Japan. The drops of clove oil that he added would separate from the mineral oil after a few days and he'd have to shake it up to remix. That never happens to the choji that I get from Japan. I have heard that what you say is true, but I have never found anyone that could conclusively state it as a fact.

I currently use about $8000 worth of swords on a regular basis. If I can't be bothered to shell out $10 a year to care for them properly, something's wrong with me. That's the conclusion I came to, though I'm sure others have different thoughts on it.

[Michael Hodge]

The lightest oil he could get was still heavier than the choji I get from Japan. The drops of clove oil that he added would separate from the mineral oil after a few days and he'd have to shake it up to remix.

That happened to me as well when I purchased heavy mineral oil. The next time around, I went to a pharmacy and bought unscented baby oil (light mineral oil) and performed the chemistry again. Worked beautifully and with no separation.

Michael Hodge

[Chidokan]

the only thing I don't like is the smell.... it reminds me too much of a scary dentist from when I was a kid.... :D

Any oil will do so long as you can put up with it... a little note for MJER people here is that Oe sensei used to dislike the heavy machine oil they used at the time, so rather than wipe the blade 'closed handed' he changed to 'open handed'...so if you don't like oil quote him as a precedent! :)

[100110]

... a little note for MJER people here is that Oe sensei used to dislike the heavy machine oil they used at the time, so rather than wipe the blade 'closed handed' he changed to 'open handed'...

In Tsukekomi, while doing chinugui?

[Brian Owens]

I was under the impression that choji oil is a very light mineral oil with a touch of clove oil added. I have never heard that it has ever been anything different. According to everything I've either read or been told, the clove oil was originally added to ensure that it was easily told from cooking oil, since it is a laxative.
I have heard this, too, but I question it.

Choji, the plant, has been known for millenia. Mineral oil, a distillate of petroleum was -- as far as I am aware -- unknown prior to the early 19th century. Oils commaonly in use prior to that were almost all plant based or animal based (tallow, whale oil, etc.).

Clove oil (or more properly clove bud oil) was a commonly used medicinal extract throughout much of asia, so it would have been available.

Once mineral oil and other petroleum products came along the cost of plant-based oils was not as attractive, so I can see why people would switch. Adding some pure choji oil to mineral oil -- whether to retain the tradition or so one wouldn't confuse cooking oil with mineral oil -- would make sense.

Since none of us were around 300 or 400 years ago there's no way to know for sure what was used, but the above seems likely to me.

(Some have said that pure choji is corrossive, but since it is safe to use on the skin and in the mouth I think the degree of corrossiveness -- if it indeed is -- is nothing that would damage steel.)

FWIW.

[Chidokan]

In Tsukekomi, while doing chinugui?

correct.

I suppose choji is also a form of antiseptic (hence the dentist thing)... which would be useful as you wouldn't want your opponent getting an infection after cutting his head off would you? It just wouldn't be cricket old boy! :D

[Brian Owens]

I suppose choji is also a form of antiseptic (hence the dentist thing)... which would be useful as you wouldn't want your opponent getting an infection after cutting his head off would you? It just wouldn't be cricket old boy! :D
Clove oil does have antiseptic properties, although tea tree oil is better for that (antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal -- great stuff).

Dentists mainly use clove oil due to its anesthetic properties. A drop or two on an aching tooth can do wonders to numb the pain until an extraction or, in modern times, a drill & fill can be done.

Plant oils and aromatic extracts are amazing things. For medical use they bridge the gap between herbology and pharmacology. For those who don't know, the use of these substances is the basis of aromatherapy, which is commonly thought to be the use of scents, but actually means the use of aromatics -- in vapors, yes, but also in topicals and even internally in some cases.

(Yes, I'm a trained aromatherapist.)